1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to orthopedic surgery and in particular to surgical devices, prosthesis, and methods for stabilizing and fixing the bones and joints of the body. Particularly, the present invention relates to a system for modeling surgical procedures using surgical methods, devices and instruments as a training or surgery rehearsal system that can provide the user with an anatomically and biomechanically realistic model in a non-surgical environment. More particularly, the present invention relates to a spinal surgery modeling system that can engage with a model of a spine so as to configure the spine in a desired alignment and with selected degrees of force vectors biasing the spine model in the selected position so as to provide a spine modeling system that can be used as a surgeon training device or as a spinal surgery rehearsal platform.
2. Background of the Technology
It is a common surgical requirement to stabilize and fix bones and bone fragments in a particular spatial relationship to correct the location of skeletal components due to injury or disease. This can be accomplished by using a number of bone pins, anchors, or screws placed in bones across a discontinuity in the bone or bone fragments, such as a fracture, or adjacent vertebrae, or joint. They are connected by a rod to maintain a predetermined spatial location of the bones or bone fragments. In some cases the use of these devices may be permanently implanted in the subject. In other cases, the devices may be implanted only as a temporary means of stabilizing or fixing the bones or bone fragments, with subsequent removal when no longer needed. Conventionally, surgeons receive their training in the use of such devices to correct vertebral column injuries and diseases by the application of methods and device on cadavers. The amount of training for each surgeon is necessarily limited by the expense, availability, scheduling, and other logistic requirements associated with the use of cadavers. Further, the biomechanical behavior and particularly soft tissue forces on the spinal column when applying methods and devices to a cadaver are far different from that which are normally experienced in a surgical procedure on a living patient.
Further, spine surgeons when planning for a surgical procedure on a specific patient are normally limited to a study of two dimensional radiographic data and a complete lack of hands on manipulation rehearsal of the method prior to operating on the patient. In recent years there has been a growing number of orthopedic practices and hospitals that have made the transition from film to all digital environments. Software based tools for orthopedic image review, analysis and preoperative planning are becoming conventional tools of the orthopedic surgeon. While advances in surgical planning have been made, they are simply limited to improvements in providing two dimensional data for study and planning. To receive hands-on training or to rehearse a surgical method, the surgeon is still limited to the use of cadavers.
With such training and rehearsal limitations, it is not uncommon during the actual surgical procedure for the surgeon to encounter unforeseen anatomical or biomechanical conditions that may require an immediate revision of the surgical plan as it proceeds. The need to provide more and less expensive ways to train surgeons or to permit hands on surgery planning and rehearsal in the use of spinal surgery methods and devices is particularly needed in the treatment of such conditions as scoliosis. It is not uncommon in the surgical treatment of scoliosis that the forceful manipulation and realignment of the spinal column can be a long, complicated mechanical effort that often includes a serious threat of damage to the spinal cord. In addition to the obvious training benefits that a three dimensional hands on device could provide, the manual rehearsal of planned methods in the treatment of scoliosis could potentially provide a faster, more effective, and safer surgical correction for the patient.
Thus a need exists for a three dimensional hands on system to provide a spinal surgery modeling system that can be used by surgeons for training in the use of new devices and methods and can also be used in the planning and manual rehearsal of surgical procedures for patients.